{"id":51945,"date":"2014-01-22T05:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T03:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=51945"},"modified":"2014-01-22T08:46:01","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T06:46:01","slug":"interest-in-telkom-mobile-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/51945\/interest-in-telkom-mobile-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Wide interest in Telkom Mobile deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cell C<\/a> and Telkom<\/a> are no longer in talks over a potential deal between South Africa\u2019s third operator, and Telkom Mobile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is according to a source who told BusinessTech that Telkom did not accept Cell C\u2019s offer \u201cbecause Cell C is running at a loss\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sipho Maseko<\/a>, Group CEO at Telkom, admitted last year that the Telkom Mobile business is going through \u201ca very difficult time\u201d, and is in discussions with\u00a0parties over future operations.<\/p>\n

In July,\u00a0Cell C\u00a0CEO\u00a0Alan Knott-Craig<\/a>\u00a0confirmed that the mobile operator had addressed talks of consolidation with\u00a0Telkom Mobile.<\/p>\n

Knott-Craig,\u00a0who is recovering from a stroke, also said that the\u00a0company\u00a0is on a a three year path to profitability,\u00a0maintaining that operators in SA needed a market share of between 20-25% to be profitable. the group’s market share is at approximately\u00a017%, currently.<\/p>\n

Cell C is not obliged to provide its financial details, as it is not a public company, and has not done so since Knott-Craig took the reins in January 2012.<\/p>\n

A separate source said that both Telkom and Cell C had decided to walk away because the numbers did not add up.<\/p>\n

There were rumours that Telkom had considered buying Cell C, to combine it with its mobile arm, with a figure of R10 billion bandied about.<\/p>\n

Telkom has struggled to acquire customers for its mobile business since launch, as 8ta in 2010, while Cell C in turn has picked up significant market share over the past 18 months, but has come under fire for its poor network.<\/p>\n

Orange and MTN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Telkom has also been approached by french-based mobile operator\u00a0Orange SA<\/a>,\u00a0and MTN<\/a>, the source told BusinessTech.<\/p>\n

The french firm already has a presence in South Africa, having launched\u00a0Orange Horizons as a subsidiary dedicated to seeking out new business opportunities, in January 2013.<\/p>\n

The group already sells products in SA through its website, and has a business unit\u00a0serving high\u00a0profile\u00a0companies\u00a0in the mining, and\u00a0petroleum\u00a0industry.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with BusinessTech, Orange Horizons CEO,\u00a0S\u00e9bastien Crozier<\/a>\u00a0said that, given the spectrum, \u201cwe could enter the market as a real player,\u201d but only through an agreement with an existing player to be on its network.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn response to the recent speculation in the press around MTN and Telkom, in accordance with good governance, MTN does not comment on market rumour and speculation,\u201d the group has said in a statement to previous questions on the topic.<\/p>\n

BusinessTech reported that a firm from Malaysia is tabling an\u00a0investment proposal of up to $3 billion (R32 billion) relating to Telkom’s mobile business, which would include the setting up of factories for the building of tower infrastructure, thereby also fostering job creation.<\/p>\n

Telkom provided the following statement regarding progress on its mobile discussions:<\/p>\n

\u201cTelkom continues to review its operations in an effort to stabilise the business and unlock its value. The company is therefore engaging with various parties to consider best options for the business, however Telkom is not in a position to disclose any further details at this stage. \u00a0We will inform the market and all our stakeholders of the outcome of the discussions at the appropriate time. \u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More on Telkom and Cell C<\/h3>\n

Cell C hints at Telkom Mobile merger<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom Mobile attracts R30 billion bid<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom in talks over mobile arm<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom and MTN in talks: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom dismisses Cell C merger talks<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell C and Telkom are no longer in talks over a potential deal between South Africa\u2019s third operator, and Telkom Mobile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":51949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[43,42,26,28,653,5014,2414,1075],"class_list":["post-51945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-alan-knott-craig","tag-cell-c","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-orange","tag-sebastien-crozier","tag-sipho-maseko","tag-telkom-mobile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51945"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51995,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51945\/revisions\/51995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}